Bashley skipper Paul Gazzard has declared this season his most enjoyable ever.

But when asked to describe the character of the man who has inspired the Foresters to the brink of the Ryman Division 1 play-off zone, the central defender was initially at a loss to describe what makes Steve Riley such a good manager.

Four days after his match-winning exploits against Kingstonian, two-goal Gazzard popped into the Recreation Ground where Riley and defender Matt Parnell were putting on an Easter soccer school - and he finally came up with his answer.

"The thing about Steve is that he's very professional in everything he does and he gets everything organised early," he said.

"I don't know how many managers we must have had up here over the last three or four seasons, but we've finally got things running right.

"Steve's a difficult character to sum up really.

"He's not laid-back, but he's not aggressive either. He's passionate and he gets his message across, but he's not the sort to come into the dressing room and start throwing the 'f' word around."

As well as commanding respect as a manager, Riley - who recently turned 40 - remains a leader of men on the park.

Last Saturday he barely put a foot wrong in the 3-2 win over Kingstonian, which left the Foresters just two points shy of the play-off zone with five games to go.

"Steve does so much work out on the park," said Gazzard. "People see him doing it and they tend to follow suit.

"He's very professional in the dressing room and he makes sure things are done well."

Jack Cleverley, Bashley's 18-year-old defensive signing from AFC Bournemouth, has impressed in training this week and could well feature at relegation-threatened Ashford tomorrow.

Centre-back Josh Thomas is fit again, but Bashley's other Cherries capture, James Rowe, is still carrying an injury.

l Lymington & New Milton have signed former Bashley man Ciaran Flanagan as cover for the rest of the season.

The midfielder emerged as one of Bashley's brightest young talents under Riley's predecessor Geoff Butler last season, but he left the area last autumn to study at Loughborough University.

"Ciaran's home from Loughborough at the moment and he signed for us just before last week's deadline," reported Linnets boss Ian Robinson. "Our squad's quite thin, so he's a useful addition."

Having lost Sam Carter to an ankle injury during Tuesday's 1-1 draw at Leatherhead, Linnets may well include Flanagan in their squad for tomorrow's home game against Hastings United.

Seventh-to-bottom Lymington are unbeaten in four and require just one more point to make relegation mathematically impossible.